You can probably reach me (David Weisman) at davidwei at optonline dot net, but my spam filter is set at ultrahigh because of youthful indescretions with pay per click rewards programs.
I live in New York state near the coast, and my wife and I share a co-op. I'm usually somewhat left of center, but I try to think things through and not parrot anybody's party line. Besides politics I spend a fair amount of time playing computer games, and am interested in science and the Global Brain as well.

That's two smart people who agree, and we all hope they're right. Drezner links to Den Beste so I don't need to. All the same, lets at least briefly consider a worst case scenario - Al Qaeda has strategic reasons for what they're doing.

Now clearly Al Qaeda is making strategic enemies of governments like Saudi Arabia who were in the past at worst lukewarm enemies. This would certainly make sense if those governments were much closer to being overthrown than we think. Saudi Arabia is a closed society, so it's hard to know. Just in the name of being prepared for the worst, it's worth thinking about.

How many hardcore supporters does Al Qaeda have in Saudi Arabia so enthusiastic they won't look at these bombings and figure it might be a relative? Not enough I suspect. If they have a strategy at all it involves fear as well as loyalty. If the government cannot protect their allies, then even people who hate Al Qaeda may lose faith in that government.

Of course they may be idiots. Maybe even Bin Laden is desperately wishing he could stop his franchises from doing this. But it's dangerous to assume so with no hard questions.

Good but infrequently updated blogs

Blogs around the world

Connectivity Blogs

Amnesty Rebels

These are all links to blog posts about the so-called Blogroll Amnesty Day. I wasn't on any of the blogrolls involved, but somehow feel no interest in linking to the huge blogs that have no interest in searching for new talent. I'll leave the links to the blogs where I first discovered what happened during my hiatus here as a sort of memorial.

No great loss for my blogroll. Atrios was less readable than Instapundit, Daily Kos is a stereotype of the angry left wing.